1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a retrofit device for lighting fishing equipment at night for example, to light fishing poles or tackle boxes. More particularly, the present invention relates to lighting of fishing equipment with sidelight fiberoptic cable lit with a LED light source.
2. Description of the Related Art
The sport fishing industry has become extremely popular and millions of people around the world participate in recreational and competitive fishing activities. Dawn, dusk and nighttime are the most popular times for fishing and fishermen often find themselves either fishing or dealing with their fishing equipment in darkness or near darkness. Because fishing includes a long pole, hooks and other tackle that can cause injury, it is extremely important that the fisherman be aware of the location and position of the tackle during use.
Night time lighting for fishing has in the past been provided by artificial illumination such as flashlight, lanterns or other self contained portable light sources. While this type of lighting has its uses for rummaging through tackle boxes and the like, it has not entirely been useful for some cases. It is a common practice for the fisherman to lay out the tackle box and other large equipment including extra poles and the like. In addition, the fisherman may prop-up one or more poles in a holder in order to have multiple lines in the water while enabling the fisherman to relax or do other activities. It is important though that even though the equipment is at a distance, that some sort of “eye” can be kept on the equipment, especially to tell if there is a fish on the line of a pole.
According, there are a number of devices that have been developed and marketed which help keep track of individual pieces of tackle by lighting it in a number of ways. Each has some advantages but each also has its own set of drawbacks. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,920 to Seibert et al, there is disclosed a fishing pole with an internal lighting system. The pole has a hollow transparent area which is lit by a battery operated light source. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,348 to Kneller et al, there is disclosed another hollow fishing pole with and LED light source. Kneller teaches how to light the tip of a fishing pole with use of a glowing tip end. Kneller also discloses some 17 issued patents of earlier approaches to lighting of fishing poles.
Recently, fiberoptic cables have played a role in several inventions for lighting fishing poles. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,486 to Pool, there is described a large external battery pack with multiple optical fibers inside a hollow fishing pole adapted to receive the fiber optic or bundle of fiber optic cables. One or more pinpoints of light can be created along the inside of the fishing pole with the device of the invention. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,808 to Hansen a fishing pole is described with an internal illumination system. A battery and light are contained in the fishing pole handle a lighting cable is run inside the pole to the tip and side lighting is provided by either a glass element or a fiber optic element which is “lightly abraded to allow radial escape of the transmitted light”. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,665 to Eldredge et al, there is described use of a fiber optic bundle of fibers that includes an LED light source to illuminate the bundle. Again, this is an integral design with the light and battery in the fishing pole handle and the fiber optic bundle running up the inside of the fishing pole.
While the above devices have their utility in providing a way to light an individual fishing pole they require a specially adapted fishing pole with the pole portion being made of specific clear plastic materials. Generally, fishermen own a number of fishing poles and other fishing tackle and the like. These poles, unless lost, tend to last a lifetime. Further, fishing poles tend to have the pole section made of very specific materials such as carbon fiber, that aid in the fishing process especially when reeling in a caught fish. Fishing poles with internal lighting devices not only would require the replacement of all the fisherman's fishing poles which these days have become very expensive, it would require making them in such a way that they no longer provided the optimum fishing characteristics desired by fishermen. This problem was at least initially addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,987 to Lee. Lee discloses an external fishing pole retrofit kit comprising a power source with a light bulb. An end lit fiber optic cable is attached to the light bulb and the opposite end of the fiber optic cable is mounted with a plastic bulb. The device further has clips attached to it which allow the light source and well as the fiber optic cable to be attached from the handle to the tip of a fishing pole. Since this fiber optic cable only glows at the tip with the aid of the added bulb at the tip, the Lee device only provides, in use, a fishing pole with a glowing tip. While useful to enable the fisherman to detect fish nibbles while a pole is in use, it is not very useful for being able to find or see the entire pole for example, during use or to find the pole. While it is also only useful for attaching to fishing poles and not very useful as described for attaching to other fishing equipment.
Over the last few years, fiber optic cables which have both axial and longitudinally lighting capabilities have been introduced. These so-called side-emitting fiber optic cables have the advantage of side lighting but deliver less light to the end of the cable. They are available in a wide array of types which require various lumen inputs to fully light the cable. One example of such cable is in U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,174 to Clarkin. This cable is useful primarily for lengths over 25 feed but does offer side light capabilities at shorter lengths.
While it is clear that lighted fishing poles and equipment are desirable as evidenced by the extremely crowded art of lighting fishing poles, it is clear that no one has yet introduced a lighting system or discovered or combined the elements of a lighting system which overcomes the limitations and meets the needs disclosed above with the known fishing pole lighting systems.